Asphodel and Rebirth
by tallshadow72
Summary: When Nico learns that Bianca has been reborn, he nearly despairs, believing he is all alone now. Fortunately, he's wrong. Missing scene from The Son of Neptune.


**A/N: I do not own Heroes of Olympus, or any dialogue taken from _The_ _Son of Neptune_. Warnings for depression and mentions of suicide.**

* * *

 _Reborn._

The word kept pounding through Nico's head. Bianca had chosen to be reborn. She'd drunk from the River Lethe, given up all her memories, and begun an entirely new life. Now Nico would never see her again.

Nico sat on the banks of the Lethe, staring at the river that had taken his sister from him— _again._ Wasn't it bad enough that Bianca had died? At least when she was in Elysium, Nico had been able to summon her from time to time. It wasn't much of a relationship, but it was better than nothing.

And now Nico truly had nothing. Bianca was the only person who'd ever truly understood and accepted him, and yet she kept abandoning him. First to join the Hunters (which had gotten her killed within a week), and now this! Couldn't she have at least waited for him? Demigod lifespans were so notoriously short, it would be a miracle if Nico lasted another five years. Then he and Bianca would have been together again. They could have been reborn together.

Then again, even if he and Bianca were reborn at the same time, they would both have to drink from the Lethe. They would forget each other, and chances were slim that their reincarnations would ever even cross paths. Not only that, but Nico could only be reborn if he earned Elysium. And he definitely wasn't some perfect hero. He only hoped he'd done enough good in his life to keep himself out of Punishment.

So, Bianca was lost to him forever. And Nico had no one else. The Greeks found him unnerving. The Romans got uncomfortable every time he visited. And Percy…he and Annabeth were comparatively nice to Nico, but it hurt seeing them together. Annabeth was everything that Nico wasn't—smart, kind, _female_ …

Nico quickly shut down that train of thought.

The point was, no one would miss him. And the war with the Titans was over. It would be so easy to drink from the waters before him, to forget the pain and everything he'd lost…

But on the other hand, he'd lost his memories to the Lethe once before. And once he noticed they were gone, he had desperately wanted to know what he was missing. When his father offered him a drink from the Mnemosyne as a reward for bringing honor to their family during the Titan War, Nico had eagerly accepted the chance to restore his memories. The result had been rather…disorienting. His early childhood had happened so long ago, it felt like another life. He had once been fluent in Italian—and suddenly he remembered his native tongue so well that he had to concentrate in order to speak English. After a few weeks, he'd trained himself to speak English again, but it had been irritating. In addition to that, he now remembered the challenges of growing up in Mussolini's Italy, especially as a child born out of wedlock. Worst of all, he now had so many more memories of his mother and Bianca. Admittedly, this was exactly what he'd been hoping for, but the memories only made their loss all the more painful.

And if Nico were to drink from the Lethe now, sooner or later he might put himself through all that again, which left one other option.

Nico doubted he'd done enough to earn Elysium, but he didn't think he'd done anything terrible enough to merit Punishment either—which meant that if he died now, he'd probably go to Asphodel. And he'd seen the spirits of Asphodel. Very few remembered their own names, much less their lives.

Nico drew his sword and contemplated it, trying to decide what would be the quickest way to end it.

"That won't help," said a voice behind Nico.

Nico jumped and looked over his shoulder to see his father behind him. Hades looked both sorrowful and sympathetic. He put a hand on Nico's shoulder as he continued. "To give up one's life for a noble cause is one thing, but to end it in a moment of despair…the judges will see that as cowardice. You have done plenty of good in your life—more than I think you realize—but if you do this, then you will be sentenced to Asphodel. And because you are my son, you will remember every detail of your life. For all eternity. It has happened before, to another child of mine who _almost_ earned Elysium. Please, my son…I do not wish to see it happen again."

Nico swallowed and looked back at his sword. "What else am I supposed to do? I have no one in the mortal world."

"Then find yourself a new family," Hades suggested.

"How?"

There was no answer. When Nico looked over his shoulder again, his father was gone.

Nico scowled at the Lethe. 'Find a new family'…Hades made it sound so easy. Who else could possibly understand what it was like to be a child of the Underworld?

Suddenly, it hit him. _It has happened before._ Somewhere in the Fields of Asphodel, he had a half-sibling. One who had "almost" earned Elysium, and therefore must have been a good person. And with Thanatos missing…perhaps Nico could sneak his half-sibling out to the mortal world. He somehow doubted that his father would make any real effort to stop him. All he had to do was find his sibling.

* * *

He found her sitting with her back against a black poplar tree. She was a black girl about his age, wearing a dress that probably came from Nico's birth era. She looked up and locked eyes with him, and he instantly saw flashes of her life—cursed gems cropping up around her, Gaea forcing her to resurrect a giant, the girl collapsing an island on top of herself and her mother. The girl's name popped into his mind: _Hazel._

"You're different," Nico stated. "A child of Pluto. You remember your life."

"Yes," Hazel replied. "And you're alive."

Nico studied her. He'd been expecting a fellow child of Hades. He'd never met a child of his father's Roman aspect, nor had he particularly considered what one would be like. But Greek or Roman, Hazel was still his sister.

"I'm Nico di Angelo," he continued. "I came looking for my sister. Death has gone missing, so I thought…I thought I could bring her back and no one would notice."

"Back to life?" Hazel asked. "Is that possible?"

"It should have been," Nico sighed. "But she's gone. She chose to be reborn into a new life. I'm too late."

"I'm sorry."

Nico held out his hand. "You're my sister too. You deserve another chance. Come with me."

Hazel took his hand and climbed to her feet. Nico led her to the Door of Orpheus, determined not to look back until they reached the world of the living. He had found another sister, someone worth living for, and he was _not_ going to lose her.


End file.
